Gundersen Lutheran earns top national HealthGrades rankings

A report released Tuesday by HealthGrades named Gundersen Lutheran among the best in the nation in a number of key areas.

HealthGrades ranked Gundersen Lutheran among the top 2 percent in the nation in 8 specialties, the top 5 percent in the nation in two specialties and among the top 10 percent in the nation in another two.

The rankings for 2012 are based on the HealthGrades 2011 Healthcare Consumerism and Hospital Quality in America report, which analyzes patient mortality and complication rates at virtually all our nation's 5,000 hospitals.

The report found that patients treated at top hospitals experience, on average, a 73 percent lower risk of dying and a 63 percent lower risk of complications when compared with the lowest-performing hospitals, and a 54 percent lower risk of dying when compared to the national average. If all Medicare patients from 2008 through 2010 had been treated at top-rated hospitals, the report estimates 240,040 lives should have potentially been saved.